More Time Children Spend in Nature During Preschool Is Associated with a Greater Sense of Responsibility for Nature : A Study in Finland

Nature connectedness is an important factor underlying proenvironmental behavior. Only little is known on the aspects that influence nature connectedness in younger children. The study participants included 150 children at mean age of 6.5 years. Eighty-five of them attended nature-preschool that offers on average 13.1 h/week, and 65 of them typical preschool that offers on average 1.7 h/week, of their education in nature. Nature connectedness was measured with the connection to nature index. The regular visits to nature during preschool were associated with a higher sense of responsibility for nature (p = 0.013). The regular visits to nature during preschool, sex, parent's nature connectedness, or socioeconomic status (SES) were, however, not associated with overall nature connectedness. Children with lower SES scored higher in the enjoyment of nature than the children with higher SES (p = 0.029). Offering the children regular nature experiences in preschool may be beneficial for developing responsibility toward nature. Incongruent with previous studies, overall nature connectedness was high in all the children, regardless of the time they spent in nature during preschool.